Health

From Pasteur to genomics: Progress and challenges in infectious diseases

Article Abstract:

An overview of the major changes in infectious diseases and the scientific progress in the field during the last decade is presented. Modern technologies can provide adequate tools to detect, manage, control and prevent emerging infections but technologies are not sufficient on their own unless all governments increase the priority of infectious diseases in the political agenda and promote a coordinated, collaborative global action against them, both in developed and developing countries.

A study was conducted, using an improved method for Epstein-Barr virus transformation of human B cells, to analyze the memory repertoire of a patient who recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection. The result reveals that it is possible to interrogate the memory repertoire of immune donors to rapidly and efficiently isolate neutralizing antibodies that have been selected in the course of natural infection.

Plasmacytoid monocytes migrate to inflamed lymph nodes and produce large amounts of type I interferon

Article Abstract:

Plasmacytoid monocytes may enter lymph nodes during inflammation and protect activated T cells. They are a specialized type of cell that secretes type I interferon, which may protect other cells from viral attack.